Cranberry Streusel coffee cake

This is a fantastic way to use up cranberries. Or a fantastic reason to use cranberries. I prefer to use the fresh cranberries however if you happen to have some stashed in the freezer you might want to get them out for this coffee cake.

Streusel topping
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1/3 cup quick cook plain oats
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon grated orange peel (fresh is best)

Place all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.

Cake batter
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted
½ cup orange juice
½ cup yogurt or sour cream (vanilla is fine)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups fresh cranberries, chopped in food processor

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch square cake pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add melted butter, orange juice, yogurt and egg. Mix until smooth. Gently fold in cranberries. Turn into prepared cake pan. Sprinkle streusel on top of cake. Place cake on middle rack and bake for 45 minutes or until cake tester inserted in the center comes clean. You can make this cake the night before and reheat the next day in the oven for 10 minutes before serving. Another bonus is that this batter works great as muffins. Spoon into muffin tins, top with streusel and bake about 20 minutes.

By the way if you have ever baked with streusel you will have learned that placing your cake or muffin pan on a cookie sheet will make the clean-up of your oven so much better. The cookie sheet with catch any spills and you will be glad you were so smart to think ahead.